All That Wasted Heat

By Jonathan Hadwen

Part observation, part imaginings, this string of short vignettes walks us through an urban and psychological landscape of Australia—the isolation and loneliness of city life—that is both unsettling and serene. 

From the very first lines you’ll be transported back into your years of city living, when you lived

• Language: English
• Publisher: Vine Leaves Press
• Release date: Sep 26, 2017
• ISBN: 9781925417623

Jonathan Hadwen

Jonathan Hadwen is a Brisbane writer. His work has appeared in the Australian Poetry Journal, Westerly, Writing to the Edge, and Mascara, as well as other publications in Australia and overseas. In 2013 he was named runner-up in the Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize for an unpublished manuscript, and was commended again in 2014 and 2015. He has been a volunteer at the Queensland Poetry Festival from 2010-2015, and was the co-editor of the online poetry journal foam:e from 2013-2015. Visit Jonathan online: jonathanhadwen.wordpress.com

Book preview

All

That

Wasted

Heat

Jonathan Hadwen

Vine Leaves Press

Melbourne, Vic, Australia

For Cathy, and New Farm.

The man who works at the local grocery store was in a motorcycle accident. He walks crookedly now; his face is crooked. He is not smarter, but he is happier. He was angry before. He would ride his bike, a grimace behind the visor of his helmet, speeding up the straight and busy streets of this suburb.

The man in the apartment two doors down is not old; he is dying. I hear his coughing fits—they last for minutes. Sometimes at the end he is sobbing, especially in the morning when he has been woken by the need for air.

On weekends his children visit. I never see their mother. They are loud inside the tiny apartment, running around its sharp turns. In the afternoon they leave, and it is quiet again, except for